Cabbie arrested for helping passenger buy sulfuric acid in alleged murder case

A taxi driver has been arrested for helping a passenger buy a bottle of sulfuric acid which she later used to kill her husband, prosecutors in Xuhui District said on Thursday.

On the night of December 2 last year, the woman surnamed Gui hit her husband Huang on the head with a steel pipe and poured sulfuric acid on him while he was sleeping, causing his death.

After she was caught by police, she told officers that she had paid a taxi driver surnamed Jiang to buy her the bottle of acid.

Jiang said Gui first hailed his taxi several months ago and was a frequent customer who hired his cab to follow her husband.

She urged Jiang to get her some sulfuric acid so that she could spray it on her husband if he mistreated her.

Jiang, who used to work on construction sites, knew that sulfuric acid was used in some construction work, so he went to his hometown in Jiangsu Province and bought a bottle from a store. He told the store owner that he wanted it to clean marble tiles at home.

He then returned to Shanghai and gave the bottle to Gui, who paid him 5,000 yuan (US$723) for it. Several days later, the acid was used to kill her husband.

The prosecutors said Jiang knew that Gui intended to use the acid to hurt someone but still bought it for her, which should be considered the crime of intentional injury.

Sales of sulfuric acid are tightly controlled in the country. The illegal sales can bring administrative punishment or the charge of illegally buying and selling items which can be used to produce toxins.

The woman's murder case is now being dealt with by the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, prosecutors said.